=head1 SYNOPSIS
-B<perl> S<[ B<-CsTuUWX> ]>
+B<perl> S<[ B<-sTtuUWX> ]>
S<[ B<-hv> ] [ B<-V>[:I<configvar>] ]>
S<[ B<-cw> ] [ B<-d>[:I<debugger>] ] [ B<-D>[I<number/list>] ]>
- S<[ B<-pna> ] [ B<-F>I<pattern> ] [ B<-l>[I<octal>] ] [ B<-0>[I<octal>] ]>
+ S<[ B<-pna> ] [ B<-F>I<pattern> ] [ B<-l>[I<octal>] ] [ B<-0>[I<octal/hexadecimal>] ]>
S<[ B<-I>I<dir> ] [ B<-m>[B<->]I<module> ] [ B<-M>[B<->]I<'module...'> ]>
S<[ B<-P> ]>
S<[ B<-S> ]>
S<[ B<-x>[I<dir>] ]>
S<[ B<-i>[I<extension>] ]>
S<[ B<-e> I<'command'> ] [ B<--> ] [ I<programfile> ] [ I<argument> ]...>
+ S<[ B<-A [I<assertions>] >]>
+ S<[ B<-C [I<number/list>] >]>
=head1 DESCRIPTION
eval 'exec perl -wS $0 ${1+"$@"}'
if $running_under_some_shell;
-to let Perl see the B<-p> switch.
+to let Perl see the B<-p> switch.
A similar trick involves the B<env> program, if you have it.
=item MS-DOS
Create a batch file to run your program, and codify it in
-C<ALTERNATIVE_SHEBANG> (see the F<dosish.h> file in the source
+C<ALTERNATE_SHEBANG> (see the F<dosish.h> file in the source
distribution for more information).
=item Win95/NT
one-liners (see B<-e> below).
On some systems, you may have to change single-quotes to double ones,
-which you must I<not> do on Unix or Plan9 systems. You might also
+which you must I<not> do on Unix or Plan 9 systems. You might also
have to change a single % to a %%.
For example:
=over 5
-=item B<-0>[I<digits>]
+=item B<-0>[I<octal/hexadecimal>]
-specifies the input record separator (C<$/>) as an octal number. If there are
-no digits, the null character is the separator. Other switches may
-precede or follow the digits. For example, if you have a version of
-B<find> which can print filenames terminated by the null character, you
-can say this:
+specifies the input record separator (C<$/>) as an octal or
+hexadecimal number. If there are no digits, the null character is the
+separator. Other switches may precede or follow the digits. For
+example, if you have a version of B<find> which can print filenames
+terminated by the null character, you can say this:
find . -name '*.orig' -print0 | perl -n0e unlink
The special value 00 will cause Perl to slurp files in paragraph mode.
The value 0777 will cause Perl to slurp files whole because there is no
-legal character with that value.
+legal byte with that value.
+
+If you want to specify any Unicode character, use the hexadecimal
+format: C<-0xHHH...>, where the C<H> are valid hexadecimal digits.
+(This means that you cannot use the C<-x> with a directory name that
+consists of hexadecimal digits.)
+
+=item B<-A [I<assertions>]>
+
+Activates the assertions given after the switch as a comma-separated
+list of assertion names. If no assertion name is given, activates all
+assertions. See L<assertions>.
=item B<-a>
An alternate delimiter may be specified using B<-F>.
-=item B<-C>
-
-enables Perl to use the native wide character APIs on the target system.
-The magic variable C<${^WIDE_SYSTEM_CALLS}> reflects the state of
-this switch. See L<perlvar/"${^WIDE_SYSTEM_CALLS}">.
-
-This feature is currently only implemented on the Win32 platform.
+=item B<-C [I<number/list>]>
+
+The C<-C> flag controls some Unicode of the Perl Unicode features.
+
+As of 5.8.1, the C<-C> can be followed either by a number or a list
+of option letters. The letters, their numeric values, and effects
+are as follows; listing the letters is equal to summing the numbers.
+
+ I 1 STDIN is assumed to be in UTF-8
+ O 2 STDOUT will be in UTF-8
+ E 4 STDERR will be in UTF-8
+ S 7 I + O + E
+ i 8 UTF-8 is the default PerlIO layer for input streams
+ o 16 UTF-8 is the default PerlIO layer for output streams
+ D 24 i + o
+ A 32 the @ARGV elements are expected to be strings encoded
+ in UTF-8
+ L 64 normally the "IOEioA" are unconditional,
+ the L makes them conditional on the locale environment
+ variables (the LC_ALL, LC_TYPE, and LANG, in the order
+ of decreasing precedence) -- if the variables indicate
+ UTF-8, then the selected "IOEioA" are in effect
+
+For example, C<-COE> and C<-C6> will both turn on UTF-8-ness on both
+STDOUT and STDERR. Repeating letters is just redundant, not cumulative
+nor toggling.
+
+The C<io> options mean that any subsequent open() (or similar I/O
+operations) will have the C<:utf8> PerlIO layer implicitly applied
+to them, in other words, UTF-8 is expected from any input stream,
+and UTF-8 is produced to any output stream. This is just the default,
+with explicit layers in open() and with binmode() one can manipulate
+streams as usual.
+
+C<-C> on its own (not followed by any number or option list), or the
+empty string C<""> for the C<PERL_UNICODE> environment variable, has the
+same effect as C<-CSDL>. In other words, the standard I/O handles and
+the default C<open()> layer are UTF-8-fied B<but> only if the locale
+environment variables indicate a UTF-8 locale. This behaviour follows
+the I<implicit> (and problematic) UTF-8 behaviour of Perl 5.8.0.
+
+You can use C<-C0> (or C<"0"> for C<PERL_UNICODE>) to explicitly
+disable all the above Unicode features.
+
+The read-only magic variable C<${^UNICODE}> reflects the numeric value
+of this setting. This is variable is set during Perl startup and is
+thereafter read-only. If you want runtime effects, use the three-arg
+open() (see L<perlfunc/open>), the two-arg binmode() (see L<perlfunc/binmode>),
+and the C<open> pragma (see L<open>).
+
+(In Perls earlier than 5.8.1 the C<-C> switch was a Win32-only switch
+that enabled the use of Unicode-aware "wide system call" Win32 APIs.
+This feature was practically unused, however, and the command line
+switch was therefore "recycled".)
=item B<-c>
sets debugging flags. To watch how it executes your program, use
B<-Dtls>. (This works only if debugging is compiled into your
Perl.) Another nice value is B<-Dx>, which lists your compiled
-syntax tree. And B<-Dr> displays compiled regular expressions. As an
-alternative, specify a number instead of list of letters (e.g., B<-D14> is
-equivalent to B<-Dtls>):
+syntax tree. And B<-Dr> displays compiled regular expressions;
+the format of the output is explained in L<perldebguts>.
+
+As an alternative, specify a number instead of list of letters (e.g.,
+B<-D14> is equivalent to B<-Dtls>):
- 1 p Tokenizing and parsing
+ 1 p Tokenizing and parsing (with v, displays parse stack)
2 s Stack snapshots
+ with v, displays all stacks
4 l Context (loop) stack processing
8 t Trace execution
16 o Method and overloading resolution
32 c String/numeric conversions
- 64 P Print preprocessor command for -P, source file input state
+ 64 P Print profiling info, preprocessor command for -P, source file input state
128 m Memory allocation
256 f Format processing
512 r Regular expression parsing and execution
1024 x Syntax tree dump
2048 u Tainting checks
- 4096 L Memory leaks (needs -DLEAKTEST when compiling Perl)
+ 4096 (Obsolete, previously used for LEAKTEST)
8192 H Hash dump -- usurps values()
16384 X Scratchpad allocation
32768 D Cleaning up
65536 S Thread synchronization
131072 T Tokenising
262144 R Include reference counts of dumped variables (eg when using -Ds)
+ 524288 J Do not s,t,P-debug (Jump over) opcodes within package DB
+ 1048576 v Verbose: use in conjunction with other flags
+ 2097152 C Copy On Write
+ 4194304 A Consistency checks on internal structures
+ 8388608 q quiet - currently only suppressed the "EXECUTING" message
All these flags require B<-DDEBUGGING> when you compile the Perl
-executable. See the F<INSTALL> file in the Perl source distribution
+executable (but see L<Devel::Peek>, L<re> which may change this).
+See the F<INSTALL> file in the Perl source distribution
for how to do this. This flag is automatically set if you include B<-g>
option when C<Configure> asks you about optimizer/debugger flags.
If you're just trying to get a print out of each line of Perl code
as it executes, the way that C<sh -x> provides for shell scripts,
-you can't use Perl's B<-D> switch. Instead do this
+you can't use Perl's B<-D> switch. Instead do this
+
+ # If you have "env" utility
+ env=PERLDB_OPTS="NonStop=1 AutoTrace=1 frame=2" perl -dS program
# Bourne shell syntax
$ PERLDB_OPTS="NonStop=1 AutoTrace=1 frame=2" perl -dS program
This allows you to add a prefix to the backup file, instead of (or in
addition to) a suffix:
- $ perl -pi 'orig_*' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # backup to 'orig_fileA'
+ $ perl -pi'orig_*' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # backup to 'orig_fileA'
Or even to place backup copies of the original files into another
directory (provided the directory already exists):
- $ perl -pi 'old/*.orig' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # backup to 'old/fileA.orig'
+ $ perl -pi'old/*.orig' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # backup to 'old/fileA.orig'
These sets of one-liners are equivalent:
$ perl -pi -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # overwrite current file
- $ perl -pi '*' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # overwrite current file
+ $ perl -pi'*' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # overwrite current file
- $ perl -pi '.orig' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # backup to 'fileA.orig'
- $ perl -pi '*.orig' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # backup to 'fileA.orig'
+ $ perl -pi'.orig' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # backup to 'fileA.orig'
+ $ perl -pi'*.orig' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # backup to 'fileA.orig'
From the shell, saying
As shown above, Perl creates the backup file whether or not any output
is actually changed. So this is just a fancy way to copy files:
- $ perl -p -i '/some/file/path/*' -e 1 file1 file2 file3...
+ $ perl -p -i'/some/file/path/*' -e 1 file1 file2 file3...
or
- $ perl -p -i '.orig' -e 1 file1 file2 file3...
+ $ perl -p -i'.orig' -e 1 file1 file2 file3...
You can use C<eof> without parentheses to locate the end of each input
file, in case you want to append to each file, or reset line numbering
lines printed. If a file named by an argument cannot be opened for
some reason, Perl warns you about it and moves on to the next file.
-Here is an efficient way to delete all files older than a week:
+Here is an efficient way to delete all files that haven't been modifed for
+at least a week:
find . -mtime +7 -print | perl -nle unlink
This is faster than using the B<-exec> switch of B<find> because you don't
have to start a process on every filename found. It does suffer from
the bug of mishandling newlines in pathnames, which you can fix if
-you
+you follow the example under B<-0>.
C<BEGIN> and C<END> blocks may be used to capture control before or after
the implicit program loop, just as in B<awk>.
=item B<-P>
-causes your program to be run through the C preprocessor before
+B<NOTE: Use of -P is strongly discouraged because of its inherent
+problems, including poor portability.>
+
+This option causes your program to be run through the C preprocessor before
compilation by Perl. Because both comments and B<cpp> directives begin
with the # character, you should avoid starting comments with any words
recognized by the C preprocessor such as C<"if">, C<"else">, or C<"define">.
-Also, in some platforms the C preprocessor knows too much: it knows
-about the C++ -style until-end-of-line comments starting with C<"//">.
+
+If you're considering using C<-P>, you might also want to look at the
+Filter::cpp module from CPAN.
+
+The problems of -P include, but are not limited to:
+
+=over 10
+
+=item *
+
+The C<#!> line is stripped, so any switches there don't apply.
+
+=item *
+
+A C<-P> on a C<#!> line doesn't work.
+
+=item *
+
+B<All> lines that begin with (whitespace and) a C<#> but
+do not look like cpp commands, are stripped, including anything
+inside Perl strings, regular expressions, and here-docs .
+
+=item *
+
+In some platforms the C preprocessor knows too much: it knows about
+the C++ -style until-end-of-line comments starting with C<"//">.
This will cause problems with common Perl constructs like
s/foo//;
s!foo!!;
+
+
+=item *
+
+It requires not only a working C preprocessor but also a working
+F<sed>. If not on UNIX, you are probably out of luck on this.
+
+=item *
+
+Script line numbers are not preserved.
+
+=item *
+
+The C<-x> does not work with C<-P>.
+
+=back
+
=item B<-s>
enables rudimentary switch parsing for switches on the command
before being searched for on the PATH. On Unix platforms, the
program will be searched for strictly on the PATH.
+=item B<-t>
+
+Like B<-T>, but taint checks will issue warnings rather than fatal
+errors. These warnings can be controlled normally with C<no warnings
+qw(taint)>.
+
+B<NOTE: this is not a substitute for -T.> This is meant only to be
+used as a temporary development aid while securing legacy code:
+for real production code and for new secure code written from scratch
+always use the real B<-T>.
+
=item B<-T>
forces "taint" checks to be turned on so you can test them. Ordinarily
=item B<-V:>I<name>
Prints to STDOUT the value of the named configuration variable.
-For example,
+For example,
$ perl -V:man.dir
using an array as though it were a scalar, if your subroutines
recurse more than 100 deep, and innumerable other things.
-This switch really just enables the internal C<^$W> variable. You
+This switch really just enables the internal C<$^W> variable. You
can disable or promote into fatal errors specific warnings using
C<__WARN__> hooks, as described in L<perlvar> and L<perlfunc/warn>.
See also L<perldiag> and L<perltrap>. A new, fine-grained warning
=item PERL5LIB
-A colon-separated list of directories in which to look for Perl library
+A list of directories in which to look for Perl library
files before looking in the standard library and the current
directory. Any architecture-specific directories under the specified
locations are automatically included if they exist. If PERL5LIB is not
-defined, PERLLIB is used.
+defined, PERLLIB is used. Directories are separated (like in PATH) by
+a colon on unixish platforms and by a semicolon on Windows (the proper
+path separator being given by the command C<perl -V:path_sep>).
When running taint checks (either because the program was running setuid
or setgid, or the B<-T> switch was used), neither variable is used.
=item PERL5OPT
Command-line options (switches). Switches in this variable are taken
-as if they were on every Perl command line. Only the B<-[DIMUdmw]>
+as if they were on every Perl command line. Only the B<-[DIMUdmtw]>
switches are allowed. When running taint checks (because the program
was running setuid or setgid, or the B<-T> switch was used), this
variable is ignored. If PERL5OPT begins with B<-T>, tainting will be
enabled, and any subsequent options ignored.
+=item PERLIO
+
+A space (or colon) separated list of PerlIO layers. If perl is built
+to use PerlIO system for IO (the default) these layers effect perl's IO.
+
+It is conventional to start layer names with a colon e.g. C<:perlio> to
+emphasise their similarity to variable "attributes". But the code that parses
+layer specification strings (which is also used to decode the PERLIO
+environment variable) treats the colon as a separator.
+
+An unset or empty PERLIO is equivalent to C<:stdio>.
+
+The list becomes the default for I<all> perl's IO. Consequently only built-in
+layers can appear in this list, as external layers (such as :encoding()) need
+IO in order to load them!. See L<"open pragma"|open> for how to add external
+encodings as defaults.
+
+The layers that it makes sense to include in the PERLIO environment
+variable are briefly summarised below. For more details see L<PerlIO>.
+
+=over 8
+
+=item :bytes
+
+A pseudolayer that turns I<off> the C<:utf8> flag for the layer below.
+Unlikely to be useful on its own in the global PERLIO environment variable.
+You perhaps were thinking of C<:crlf:bytes> or C<:perlio:bytes>.
+
+=item :crlf
+
+A layer which does CRLF to "\n" translation distinguishing "text" and
+"binary" files in the manner of MS-DOS and similar operating systems.
+(It currently does I<not> mimic MS-DOS as far as treating of Control-Z
+as being an end-of-file marker.)
+
+=item :mmap
+
+A layer which implements "reading" of files by using C<mmap()> to
+make (whole) file appear in the process's address space, and then
+using that as PerlIO's "buffer".
+
+=item :perlio
+
+This is a re-implementation of "stdio-like" buffering written as a
+PerlIO "layer". As such it will call whatever layer is below it for
+its operations (typically C<:unix>).
+
+=item :pop
+
+An experimental pseudolayer that removes the topmost layer.
+Use with the same care as is reserved for nitroglycerin.
+
+=item :raw
+
+A pseudolayer that manipulates other layers. Applying the <:raw>
+layer is equivalent to calling C<binmode($fh)>. It makes the stream
+pass each byte as-is without any translation. In particular CRLF
+translation, and/or :utf8 intuited from locale are disabled.
+
+Unlike in the earlier versions of Perl C<:raw> is I<not>
+just the inverse of C<:crlf> - other layers which would affect the
+binary nature of the stream are also removed or disabled.
+
+=item :stdio
+
+This layer provides PerlIO interface by wrapping system's ANSI C "stdio"
+library calls. The layer provides both buffering and IO.
+Note that C<:stdio> layer does I<not> do CRLF translation even if that
+is platforms normal behaviour. You will need a C<:crlf> layer above it
+to do that.
+
+=item :unix
+
+Low level layer which calls C<read>, C<write> and C<lseek> etc.
+
+=item :utf8
+
+A pseudolayer that turns on a flag on the layer below to tell perl
+that output should be in utf8 and that input should be regarded as
+already in utf8 form. May be useful in PERLIO environment
+variable to make UTF-8 the default. (To turn off that behaviour
+use C<:bytes> layer.)
+
+=item :win32
+
+On Win32 platforms this I<experimental> layer uses native "handle" IO
+rather than unix-like numeric file descriptor layer. Known to be
+buggy in this release.
+
+=back
+
+On all platforms the default set of layers should give acceptable results.
+
+For UNIX platforms that will equivalent of "unix perlio" or "stdio".
+Configure is setup to prefer "stdio" implementation if system's library
+provides for fast access to the buffer, otherwise it uses the "unix perlio"
+implementation.
+
+On Win32 the default in this release is "unix crlf". Win32's "stdio"
+has a number of bugs/mis-features for perl IO which are somewhat
+C compiler vendor/version dependent. Using our own C<crlf> layer as
+the buffer avoids those issues and makes things more uniform.
+The C<crlf> layer provides CRLF to/from "\n" conversion as well as
+buffering.
+
+This release uses C<unix> as the bottom layer on Win32 and so still uses C
+compiler's numeric file descriptor routines. There is an experimental native
+C<win32> layer which is expected to be enhanced and should eventually be
+the default under Win32.
+
+=item PERLIO_DEBUG
+
+If set to the name of a file or device then certain operations of PerlIO
+sub-system will be logged to that file (opened as append). Typical uses
+are UNIX:
+
+ PERLIO_DEBUG=/dev/tty perl script ...
+
+and Win32 approximate equivalent:
+
+ set PERLIO_DEBUG=CON
+ perl script ...
+
+
=item PERLLIB
-A colon-separated list of directories in which to look for Perl library
+A list of directories in which to look for Perl library
files before looking in the standard library and the current directory.
If PERL5LIB is defined, PERLLIB is not used.
=item PERL5SHELL (specific to the Win32 port)
May be set to an alternative shell that perl must use internally for
-executing "backtick" commands or system(). Default is C<cmd.exe /x/c>
+executing "backtick" commands or system(). Default is C<cmd.exe /x/d/c>
on WindowsNT and C<command.com /c> on Windows95. The value is considered
to be space-separated. Precede any character that needs to be protected
(like a space or backslash) with a backslash.
this controls the behavior of global destruction of objects and other
references. See L<perlhack/PERL_DESTRUCT_LEVEL> for more information.
+=item PERL_DL_NONLAZY
+
+Set to one to have perl resolve B<all> undefined symbols when it loads
+a dynamic library. The default behaviour is to resolve symbols when
+they are used. Setting this variable is useful during testing of
+extensions as it ensures that you get an error on misspelled function
+names even if the test suite doesn't call it.
+
=item PERL_ENCODING
If using the C<encoding> pragma without an explicit encoding name, the
PERL_ENCODING environment variable is consulted for an encoding name.
+=item PERL_HASH_SEED
+
+(Since Perl 5.8.1.) Used to randomise Perl's internal hash function.
+To emulate the pre-5.8.1 behaviour, set to an integer (zero means
+exactly the same order as 5.8.0). "Pre-5.8.1" means, among other
+things, that hash keys will be ordered the same between different runs
+of Perl.
+
+The default behaviour is to randomise unless the PERL_HASH_SEED is set.
+If Perl has been compiled with C<-DUSE_HASH_SEED_EXPLICIT>, the default
+behaviour is B<not> to randomise unless the PERL_HASH_SEED is set.
+
+If PERL_HASH_SEED is unset or set to a non-numeric string, Perl uses
+the pseudorandom seed supplied by the operating system and libraries.
+This means that each different run of Perl will have a different
+ordering of the results of keys(), values(), and each().
+
+B<Please note that the hash seed is sensitive information>. Hashes are
+randomized to protect against local and remote attacks against Perl
+code. By manually setting a seed this protection may be partially or
+completely lost.
+
+See L<perlsec/"Algorithmic Complexity Attacks"> and
+L</PERL_HASH_SEED_DEBUG> for more information.
+
+=item PERL_HASH_SEED_DEBUG
+
+(Since Perl 5.8.1.) Set to one to display (to STDERR) the value of
+the hash seed at the beginning of execution. This, combined with
+L</PERL_HASH_SEED> is intended to aid in debugging nondeterministic
+behavior caused by hash randomization.
+
+B<Note that the hash seed is sensitive information>: by knowing it one
+can craft a denial-of-service attack against Perl code, even remotely,
+see L<perlsec/"Algorithmic Complexity Attacks"> for more information.
+B<Do not disclose the hash seed> to people who don't need to know it.
+See also hash_seed() of L<Hash::Util>.
+
=item PERL_ROOT (specific to the VMS port)
A translation concealed rooted logical name that contains perl and the
logical device for the @INC path on VMS only. Other logical names that
-affect perl on VMS include PERLSHR, PERL_ENV_TABLES, and
-SYS$TIMEZONE_DIFFERENTIAL but are optional and discussed further in
+affect perl on VMS include PERLSHR, PERL_ENV_TABLES, and
+SYS$TIMEZONE_DIFFERENTIAL but are optional and discussed further in
L<perlvms> and in F<README.vms> in the Perl source distribution.
+=item PERL_SIGNALS
+
+In Perls 5.8.1 and later. If set to C<unsafe> the pre-Perl-5.8.0
+signals behaviour (immediate but unsafe) is restored. If set to
+C<safe> the safe (or deferred) signals are used.
+See L<perlipc/"Deferred Signals (Safe signals)">.
+
+=item PERL_UNICODE
+
+Equivalent to the B<-C> command-line switch. Note that this is not
+a boolean variable-- setting this to C<"1"> is not the right way to
+"enable Unicode" (whatever that would mean). You can use C<"0"> to
+"disable Unicode", though (or alternatively unset PERL_UNICODE in
+your shell before starting Perl). See the description of the C<-C>
+switch for more information.
+
=item SYS$LOGIN (specific to the VMS port)
Used if chdir has no argument and HOME and LOGDIR are not set.
https://perl5.git.perl.org / perl5.git / blobdiff